Key Games

Dragon Quest

Actraiser

Illusion of Gaia

Enix is a bit of an oddity. It was technically a prolific publisher of games, but its name is so synonymous with certain series – mostly due to its excessive self-branding on its games while relegating its developers to the shadows – that it deserves to be on the list. After all, Enix’s go-to developers – especially Chunsoft and Quintet – are largely unknown quantities that were given life by Enix. Chunsoft’s Dragon Quest series and Quintet’s impressive array of SNES games, ranging from Actraiser to Illusion of Gaia, are some of that generation’s most fondly remembered games. Enix since merged with fellow Japanese RPG powerhouse SquareSoft in 2003 to become Square-Enix, but leaving the company off of this list would be outright criminal.